The Art of the Disney Golden Books is more than a beautiful book of illustrated artwork. It’s a history lesson for Disney fans and a love letter to the men and women who created some of the studio’s most beloved characters.

Ken Anderson, Marc Davis and the other Imagineers who created Disney's Haunted Mansion were clearly influenced by Charles "Addams Family" Addams's cartoons, but until I read this amazing post on Long Forgotten, I had no idea how much influence he exerted on them.

Another outstanding photo-essay on the Long Forgotten Haunted Mansion blog shows how many of the original Rolly Crump concepts for a walk-through Haunted Mansion at Disneyland eventually made their way into the Enchanted Tiki Room, with effects based on Cocteau's 1946 movie La Belle et la Bête.

The amazing Foxxfur has spent 3.5 years assembling a new installment in her "Musical Souvenir of Walt Disney World" series, pulling together audio rarities from WDW in the late 1970s to create a six-hour soundscape that faithfully recreates the incidental music, cast member spiels, and ride narration from one of the golden ages of Disney themeparks.

Korean games illustrator Na Young Wu has an amazing series of illustrations called "Korean Western Fairy Tales," in which she redesigns familiar characters from western fairy tales (including several that have been adapted by Disney) and remakes them as traditional Korean characters.

Na Young Wu is a character illustration artist for games, and in what she calls her "Korean Western Fairy Tale" series, she uses her talents to reimagine familiar characters. Sometimes she uses the color palettes from Disney films, but in other pieces, she focuses on putting her own spin on the stories. You can see more of her Eastern-Western fairy tale illustrations on Twitter—and if you somehow still haven't enough of Frozen, she has her own take on Elsa on her blog.

The cult favorite documentary was produced to promote Tron's release, featuring a trippy plot and the strangest computer graphics this side of SIGGRAPH -- and it quickly became a staple of the LA club scene as visual accompaniment for whatever was floating your boat that night.

The golden age of Haunted Mansion merch continues to ripen, with this stretch gallery Tightrope Girl (AKA "Ballerina and Alligator"): $95 from the Disney Store. It's already sold out, but expect it on Ebay soon. (via Super Punch)

From the Long Forgotten blog, a characteristically excellent and thorough going-over of the aborted plan to build the Haunted Mansion as a boat ride-through, much like Pirates of the Caribbean (which may have cannibalized some of the aborted watery Mansion plans).

It's no secret that the Disney-fied versions of fairy tales that we grew up with in modern times pale in comparison to the originals, told by the likes of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm.

For Halloween, rock group Phish traditionally creates a 'musical costume' by covering a classic album from music history. This year, the band created a new set of music based around the 1964 Disneyland album Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House. Interesting set of music with a cool stage design, the band uses the original narration and inspiration for the songs."

Foxxfurr's latest article on Disney theme park history is yet another amazing and insightful read that uses the tenth anniversary of Stitch's Great Escape ("the worst ride in Disney World") as a jumping-off point to show how the history of theme-parks, animation, the elusive 5-12 year old boy market, and the entertainment business all influenced one another.